//------------------------------// // Now, Take a Bow // Story: Serious about Silly // by Grey Faerie //------------------------------// Sleeping Beauty play, watching the show, Spike's part, going home, Pinkie thanking them The large tent was vast and empty inside without much inside other than multiple round tables spotting the area and the main stage cutting off a portion of the space. Green grass shined with a spell aura that gently compressed it down to the feel of a flat surface. A few dirt paths trailed around tables connecting the stage to a second entrance on the opposite side from the audience's. Lanterns hang from long chains to the rafters above. They were spelled to shine down like spot lights when needed. The girls scurried into the tent and around the filled tables to their reserved one. The din of chattering guests seemed to be amplified by empty space about their heads. Two small tables sat side by side with place cards neatly waiting for them. They sat down just as the lights dimmed and a cheer rose up from the waiting crowd. The curtain parted to reveal Naty standing at center stage. Her mic floated in front of her, "Good evening honored guest to our humble theater! We of the Flying Fish Traveling Theater show will be presenting a mythical story retold over that ages. The legend of Sleeping Beauty." She paused for a moment as the crowd cheered. "We will be having a special guest tonight as well to help us with this presentation, so I hope you all enjoy the show." A cacaphone of clapping, yells, and whistling filled the air as the curtains closed for a moment before opening once again. A stallion stood where Naty had once been wearing old renaissance clothing. "Hear ye, hear ye! This eve is be the christening celebration for the first child of His royal majesty the King and our lady the Queen..." "...we have all given our gifts," the good fairy said. "Only the Lilac fairy is left to give her gift. She is the most powerful of the good fairies." All the ponies stood on the stage around a crib. They wore beautiful gowns and suits that glittered in the spotlight. A pony with shimmering butterfly wings and trailing lilac dress approached the crib. But before she could speak, the back entrance opened in a fire of light. Spike made his entrance on top of a dais carried by ponies dressed in frightening garb made to emulate dragons. Their black scaled armor and helmets full of teeth clacked as they moved down the path to the stage. Spike sat on a throne of spires dressed in armor and silk as black as night with trim dyed a blood red. He held a staff that looked tipped with a large diamond. "I have yet to give my gift," he stated. The dais stopped in front of the stage allowing him to easily step on to the stage. He hung over the crib with a scowl. "Such a sweet child, I would have been glad to have more time to pick a suitable gift." The king walked forward to get between the dragon and the crib, "We had planned to invite you, Great Carabosse, but the Master of Ceremonies much have forgotten to put your name on the list!" Carabosse sneered at him and snapped his fingers towards a pony off to the side. They quickly attacked him with their drawn weapons. Once he had be laid dead, they returned to the dais. Carabosse laughed at the scene and turned his attention back to the king. "Lies! I am the most powerful magic user in all the land. Your lies do not fool me!" He straighten up and waved the staff. The king was instantly pulled away from the crib. "Out of my way, pony. This is still a christening and I still have my gift to give." The Queen threw herself at his feet and begged for mercy for the child. Carabosse laughed again, ignoring her. "You foolish ponies, this child will indeed grow up to be a beautiful, healthy, delightful young lady, but on her sixteenth birthday she will prick her finger on a spindle and die!" A light fell on the stage, temporarily blinding everyone. The dragon made his way to the dais, and when everyone could see again, was making his way out the back entrance... The actors all stood among tables giving small gifts to the guests and telling jokes. They heard a bell and lined up before the princess. She laughed as they gave her gift after gift. Guards stood around the line and checked over the presents. They nodded when it was deemed safe. After the gifts were given, the guest danced around in the area section off in front of the stage. The King and Queen sat among their court on the stage. The princess stood by herself in the circle of dancers. Soon, a small dragon walked up to her and tugged on her skirts. She looked down at him with a smile, "Why hello there, what is it that you need dear child?" Spike was dressed as one of the many simpler court guests with a blue robe and golden sashes. He blushed at her. The princess could see a bouquet of flowers sticking out from behind him. "Another gift? How kind." "It's only a gift of wild flowers collected on the way to your castle. I hope you could forgive me." He held out the bundle of flowers. She smiled, "It's perfect." The actors had spread out in their dance so the guest could see the what was happening. Some of them tried to call out to her but she acted as if she couldn't hear them. The princess pointed out the different flowers and their meanings. "A poppy for sleep, anemone for expectation, a calendula? So pretty but it means grief. Snapdragon is deception or presumption and what's this? A single daffodil, misfortun-oww!" The princess pulled her hoof away from the bouquet and dropped it. She put a hoof to her head before fainting. The music stopped cold with only Carabosse's laughter to fill the air. "Foolish girl!" He pulled out a spindle from the cluster of flowers and held it up to the air. The guards jumped in to action to catch him but he threw the spindle to the ground causing a cloud of purple magic to envelop him. When it blew away, he was gone and the princess was dead... A dinner course was served after the Lilac fairy covered the castle with vines and brambles to protect it during the hundred years of sleep. Twilight and the girls all chattered to each other about the show. Rainbow Dash stuffed mashed potatoes into her mouth, "It was great! I loved the song after she fell asleep." "A few manners go a long way." Rarity said, pulling away from her friend, "But I do agree, that was a lovely song. I love the outfits so far. Did you see the armor Spike was wearing! Divine." Twilight swallowed her soup before answering, "I can just see him asking to keep it for next Nightmare Night. I'm really happy with how the play is going so far. It's really interesting how they changed the part for him." Fluttershy nodded. She dipped another broccoli in the cheese sauce and chewed it. Officer Steel, his wife Aya, and the Applejack sat at the table next to them. Steel nodded as well, "It's nice to see a rendition of the original play and not the kid version." "It's definitely not what I had expected," Applejack laughed. "I'd only seen the kid version. "I will not let you defeat my curse!" Carabosse yelled. Spike was standing on a high pedestal set up across from the stage and behind the guests. The pedestal looked to be something the tent used as for trapeze acts but was decorated to resemble a piece of the castle. Spike was back dressed in his armor of scales and silk. He waved the staff around, summoning up purple magic. It engulfed him and moved down the side of the tent wall. The area behind the guest was now filled with the smoke. Behind the scenes, Naty and her line of unicorns strained against the spell they were casting. Sweat dripped down Naty's knitted brows. She hunched down and sprung her head up against the spell. Tense muscles relaxed as the spell configured itself. On the outside, Spike looked as if he had been transformed to a demonic dragon of black steel and blood red diamonds. Yet on their side, he looked to be still standing on the pedestal. Light surrounded him to both make him invisible from the crowd but to also allow his movements to be mimicked by the illusion. He raked his claws at the Lilac fairy and the Prince. Their battle had them running around the tables on the paths or flying in the air below the lanterns. Spike jumped down from the pedestal to the waiting catch net and to his marker. Naty gave a signal for the team to quit working one at a time till only she remained. Like shattering glass, the dragon appeared to have been broken to pieces. Spike as Carabosse stood in the middle of millions of disappearing fragments. "How could this be?" He fainted to the ground and faded with the last pieces. The second illusionist summon up a shielding spell so that Spike can run to the back without being seen. Then both unicorns stopped their spell. "...And that's our show!" Naty announced. All the actors stood on or in front of the stage, taking a bow to the round of applause coming from the audience members. Twilight shouted and waved at Spike. He looked over to her and waved back. They all stood outside the main stage tent next to the kids' stage around. Parents stood in line to pick up their kids. A part of the kids' area held a tented off section for little children to fall asleep while the older kids enjoyed an interactive show. Trixie walked up to the group with Trapdoor. "We could hear some of the cheering from out here. It almost got too hard to keep the kids' attention." she joked. "It was great! And Spike did so well!" Twilight boasted. Spike blushed. She glanced back at him and chuckled, "He did great and the show was fantastic. It seems a shame you couldn't see it." Trixie waved a hoof, "No bother. I see the works in progress enough times. It's my job to keep the kids entertained. Will we be see you again soon? Maybe another go at acting?" She directed the last question to Spike. He shrugged, "Twilight's always getting into something crazy. Someone's got to keep the house going." It was Twilight's turn to blush. "Spike! That's not nice." She turned back to Trixie, "I think we all would be more than happy to come again just as long as we're guest." "I second that." Aya said, "You girls looked like chickens with their heads cut off." They laughed and talked a bit about Trixie's show. Naty and Lalu greeted them some time later with thanks for the help. They would take over things from there and get the rest of the stuff packed up. The train ride back was hard as most of them wanted to sleep after the long day. Rarity looked at the clock at the Ponyville train station. "I really need to get home. I still have some work to do tonight." "Like what?" Fluttershy asked, surprised. "Nothing much, just some preliminary designs for a show for a spring fair. I've just got to have them ready to be mailed by the day after tomorrow and I still have two outfits to make." "Maybe I can help." Fluttershy offered. "Would you? That would be great Fluttershy. Good bye girls. I'll see you all later." Rarity said. She and Fluttershy waved good bye then left. "We all need to get to bed. Come on Spike." Twilight said. The rest of the girls waved goodbye and walked home. Pinkie woke up on a morning a few days later. Her cold had passed but she still felt really tired. Discord was sitting at her vanity combing his goatee. His illness passed in a day lucky for him, but unluckily it meant he had to wait on Pinkie hand and hoof while she was sick. "The paper had another review of the carnival your friends helped with. I'm thinking you should celebrate your recovery with a bit of a party for Spike. They apparently couldn't get enough of him." Discord snorted. Pinkie climbed messily out of bed to the vanity. "That sounds great for him! I'll see if Naty and Lalu are available." They both made their way downstairs for breakfast. The girls were waiting for them at a table. "Pinkie! You look great. Feeling better?" Twilight asked. "Yep! I think I'll be all better by tomorrow. Mom always said not to push yourself too much after getting sick. Don't want it to get any worse." Pinkie said. She dug into her oatmeal. "Pinkie, we all talked and we have to say... that we are sorry." Applejack said. Pinkie looked up surprised, "Sorry for what?" "For not taking your party planning seriously." Rarity said. "I guess when your an expert at something, it just makes what you do look so easy." Pinkie's stuffed cheeks went red at that. Rainbow dash spoke up, "We didn't take you seriously whenever you talked about how much parties meant to you or when you said it was a lot of work. It never really seemed that big a deal before." The rest of the girls nodded but Pinkie shook her head, "It's nothing, really! I'm not hurt. I'm more than happy to do all the work and see how happy everyone is having fun. Parties is what I do. I'm very serious about silly." They all laughed and Twilight hugged Pinkie.